TORONTO — The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's soccer team won 1-0 against the Trent Excalibur in a much needed win on a cloudy day at Downsview Park.
Heading into their fifth game of the season with a 1-2-1 record, the Bold recently earned a draw against the nationally ranked Queen's Gaels, proving they can hold their own against top competition. Today's game reinforced that.
"We realize we've had a lot of first-year players coming in and they've all contributed the best they can," said head coach
John Yacou. "We've based our entire team on hard work. Today it was ugly, it could've gone either way but they fought through it."
The Bold started strong, dominating possession and driving deep into Excalibur territory. That early pressure paid off when a Trent yellow card set up a prime scoring opportunity. In the 14th minute, captain
Natalie Moynihan stepped up for the free kick and sailed a beautiful ball over the defensive wall, which dipped right beneath the arms of Trent goalkeeper Kymora Chung to grab the lead.
"It felt good," said Moynihan with a smile. "I've been training for those for a while and they weren't necessarily coming in games, so it feels good to open the floodgates, and I'm excited to keep bringing this positive energy."
Carrying the momentum forward, TMU continued to apply the offensive pressure, not allowing Trent to hold much ground on the Bold's defensive end.Â
A pin-point free kick from Moynihan sparked the Bold's next big chance. Crossing the ball deep into the box,
Becca Bartosh found the ball weaving through a thick crowd of players to connect off her shin, but the attempt drifted high, settling on the roof of the net.
Moynihan continued her trend, and on the free kick, she sent the ball powering right towards the net, but the ball rang off the crossbar, deflecting down and outward.
The Bold continued to push and limit the Excalibur's chances with a spectacular display of footwork from both
Vanessa Pianta and
Alexandra Tanzola. Despite the Bold's great performance, they were unable to widen the gap.Â
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Ten minutes into the second half, the Bold suffered an unfortunate turn of events when a red card forced them to play the remaining 35 minutes down a player while defending their narrow lead over the Excalibur.
With the advantage, Trent pushed the pace, eager for a goal, but TMU shut them down at every turn. Even short-handed, they capitalized on turnovers to work the ball down the wings and create scoring opportunities of their own.
The match ended with TMU holding their own, with the final score 1-0.
Up next, the Bold will face the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Sept. 27, where it will be a challenging contest.
"Preparation this week is going to be most important," said Moynihan. "Our best games have come from a good week of training, and this team, every week we build up and we get better together."
Fans can catch the game for free at Downsview Park.
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